


What Happens on Youtube Stays on Youtube

by Ididntsignupforthisshit (myhamartia)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Deaf Character, Deaf Keith (Voltron), Gen, He/Him Pronouns For Pidge | Katie Holt, Trans Male Character, Trans Male Pidge | Katie Holt, Voltron Gen Mini Bang 2017, Youtuber/Vlogger AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-28
Updated: 2017-07-28
Packaged: 2018-12-07 23:57:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11634633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myhamartia/pseuds/Ididntsignupforthisshit
Summary: Keith's break into the YouTube community was an odd one. One he wasn't planning on making. It was all for this wildly popular group of vloggers, and his close connections to them all.He didn't expect his "big break" to be all because of a crashed vlog and a close shave.Partnered with @sirensantics!!





	What Happens on Youtube Stays on Youtube

         Lance was pretty sure there was nothing harder than living in a house full of vloggers.

There was always the mess, the noise, the constant camera in your face as your housemates tried to get a regular string of content to post.

Lance was all too familiar with this process, he was just as guilty of it as all of the others.

There were five people living in the house, four of which, including Lance, were weekly vloggers.

The house was in a constant state of content creation, whether that be from planning special trips, going to events, or getting into weeks of prank wars.

Keith labeled the weeks as Panic Weeks. They usually ended up happening in crucial weeks of his job. Keith was the fifth roommate. He was the one to even out their crazy internet-fame heads. He had never appeared in the vlogs, and had never cared to. He was content to live his quiet little shut-in life, only to interact with his roommates and a few web-clients.

Lance wondered if it was really hard living with the rest of them. It must have taken a toll on him, when during any rare outing or event there would be at least one of them whipping out a phone or vlogging camera to try and capture the moment to use for content.

Vlogging with Keith around took some editing magic, Lance has found.

The members of the house were always very respectful about Keith’s wishes, but doing so either took great skill to edit the poor boy out of their footage, or simply nixing the whole vlog segment and simply retelling the story in a relaxed, sit-down environment.

But, even as talented and crafty as the four vloggers were, there were always trace elements of their mysterious roommate. Food in the fridge labeled with a bold, black _KEITH_ , or conversations of “What’s this stuff on the table? Oh, it’s Keith’s? Okay, that’s cool.”

And, of course, viewers see that and begin to wonder… _who the fuck is Keith?_

This sprouted questions and fan conspiracy theories and all sorts of trouble to go along with it. But still, no viable answers were ever shared with the audience. Questions were hit with vague answers hinting at Keith's existence, sending theories spiraling.

Before the summer of 2017, Keith was but a myth. Of course, all it took was a close shave to really launch Keith Park’s YouTube entrance.

      The kid’s eyes were wide, almost buggy with the Snapchat filter they used. The audio crackled as they breathed near the phone’s mic. “Who is the fifth roommate? I feel like we’re all pretty sure that he’s imaginary.”

Lance burst out laughing, bending half over in his seat. “Oh believe me.” He sat up grinning. “He’s pretty real. Anything but imaginary. He only comes out of his room around midnight, or to go to work, but he’s as real as you and me. He just doesn’t like to be in the vlogs, it’s his own choice and we all respect it.”

There was a click as the doorknob twisted and a faint knock on the doorframe could be heard.

“Speak of the devil.” Lance grinned and gave a wave of his hand as the legendary fifth roommate, Keith Park stuck his head in the door.

The question was quickly asked. His eyebrows were drawn down and a shoulder propped up on the doorjamb. _What kind of pizza do you want?_ It was a jumble of words but Lance deciphered it quickly.

Lance held his left hand open, palm up while he rubbed the heel of his right palm over the opposite one.

“Simple cheese would be good,” he said, signing along with the words. He held the fingertips of his right hand to his chin and pulled them down in a quick movement. “Thank you.”

Keith signed two letters, O.K. and gave a thumbs up before ducking back out of the room. Lance smiled after him, waiting for a second before going back to his camera.

“Anywho, that’s all I have for you today. If you could like and comment that’d be awesome. Also, make sure you subscribe and click the little bell down there so that you never miss a new video and you can keep up with me, and the schmucks I call my roommates!”

Lance was just about to click off the camera when he heard frantic footsteps coming back down the hall. Keith appeared in his doorway yet again, he waited all of 16 milliseconds after catching Lance’s attention to begin signing.

It was all drastic movements around his jaw, like he was miming shaving his face. Lance’s eyebrows jumped and he put his thumb to his chin, crooking his index finger in a simple question.

“ _Who?_ ”

Keith’s fingers spelled out the answer.

Huh. Shiro was shaving his beard.

_Wait, what._

Lance was up in an instant, carrying his camera with him as he followed Keith back along the hall to Shiro’s room and the adjoining bathroom. There, in the room were Hunk and Pidge with Shiro in the middle. Shiro looked exasperated as he went about running his shaver down his chin. Each of them, save Keith had a camera all focused on the older man. They have to get that vlog content, man.

“Guys, come on,” he sighed. “It’s not that big of a deal.”

Keith made a sound, signing at Shiro in the mirror. Lance made a mental note to add subtitles when he got around to editing everything out. “It’s a big deal. I haven’t seen you without some kind of beard since I was twelve!” Keith said, adamant about the whole ordeal.

“No, yeah, I agree,” Hunk spoke up, adjusting his camera angle. “I’ve never seen you without facial hair.”

“I know I have, but the memory is,” Lance took a second to narrow his eyes at the man in the mirror, more out of thought than malice, “vague.”

“A long time ago, right?” Keith asked, his hands moving quicker than normal due to excitement.

Lance nodded solemnly. “ _Loooooooooooooong_ time,” he agreed.

The rest of the process went as smooth as could be. Shiro only nicked himself twice, a personal record, and that victory smelled as sweet as his after shave.

It wasn’t terribly long before the spectators left either out of disinterest, or, in Lance’s case, because of a full memory card and a need to get a video edited together.

After going over the footage, Lance realized that he had a dilemma. Keith had told him he could keep the part in the Q&A that referenced him, but then again, the footage involving Shiro (and the entire subject of Lance’s clickbait) was full of Keith. There would be virtually no way of editing his friend out.

It was much to his surprise that, when he asked permission to use the feed, Keith agreed without much of a fight at all.

And by “much of a fight,” that, of course, meant that Lance owed Keith a very big favor – and was now required to do a full three weeks of Keith’s laundry.

A steep price, but one Lance was fully willing to pay.

Keith chewed on his chips slowly and deliberately as he sprawled across Lance’s bed, watching the man at his desk, clicking through Premiere, his editing program

   Lance was playing some sort of loud music, Keith could feel the fast beat of it vaguely through his hearing aids.

   He played with the nearly empty Cheetos bag under his fingers, looking at the branding the crinkling bag was stamped with. He cast another glance at Lance, watching as he typed a few words out for subtitles and put them along the bottom of the video. Keith resisted the urge to bury his face into the comforter under him. There was a little fluttering in the bottom of his stomach. He’d never been in the vlogs before. The others respected his wishes enough to cut him out whenever the shot happened to catch him.

   For some reason, it made his stomach flip. Something along the lines of anticipation ran through his veins as he wondered what people would think of him. The video, not yet finished, didn’t focus on him completely, nor did it make a huge deal out of his appearance. Because it wasn’t a big deal, really.

It was just...

Nerve wracking.

Like a smiley face emoticon with about nine end-brackets. A thing that was masked in positivity but _everyone_ knew that it meant the opposite of its face value.

He took a breath. Ate a Cheeto and licked the dust off the pads of his fingers.

In reality, he was just worried about the fans’ reactions. He wasn’t really all that confident in being in front of a camera, and here he was being put in front of an audience of almost a million.

_Nerve wracking._

Bah. It’ll be fine, Keith assured himself.

He tucked his chin into his arm and steeled his resolve. It was going to be just fine.

The next morning was a little less fine.

Lance knew that Keith had a late night.

Keith knew that Lance could tell.

Even without the drunken stagger of exhaustion, there was the way Keith’s eyelids seemed to have glued themselves together - or, there was the simple fact that Keith told him “late night” as soon as they encountered each other in the hallway outside of the bathroom door.

So Lance knew this. He full well _knew_ that Keith was in such a state, that stabbing a man was a completely rational option in his boggy state of mind. _And yet_ , he still somehow exuded an obnoxious air of excitement and giddiness as Keith sat down at the kitchen bar, settling a bowl of cold cereal in front of him. A spoonful of Rice Krispies crackled in his mouth as he tried to tell Lance with his eyes that if he began to speak to him, he might lose a limb, but Lance disregarded that warning and leaned on the bar across from Keith, his elbows on the bar, his chin cupped by his hands.

“So,” Lance said to him. Keith’s eyes flicked down to his mouth, reading what he was saying. “How was your night, Sleeping Beauty?”

The stare Keith leveled on him was deadly. “My website broke last night,” he signed, utterly unamused. The spoon stuck out of his mouth at an odd angle, clicking uncomfortably against his teeth as he talked with his hands. “I had to sort through so much code to find what happened. I was up until four this morning. I am wiped the fuck out.”

Lance hummed, nodding in sympathy though he was barely in the shot. “I’m sorry to hear that, dude. But, I have something that might cheer you up!” He grinned as Keith’s expression withered further.

“What is it.” It wasn’t a question. It was a spoken hiss of syllables that was intended to strike fear into Lance’s heart.

It apparently didn’t even work, because Lance just slid his phone across the bar, his hips wiggling behind him, vibrating with anticipation as Keith picked up the phone.

It was the comment feed of last night’s video. The one he spent all night trying to ignore and forget.

Overwhelmingly positive comments sprinkled with excited emojis and the like popped up instantly. Note after note, saying things about how excited people were about Keith finally showing up, some commenting on his looks, others on him being deaf.

It was fascinating, seeing all of these opinions of him.

It made his chest swell with a little burst of confidence.

He handed the phone back to Lance with a smile.

“That’s pretty cool,” he confessed one-handedly, spooning another bite of cereal into his mouth.

Lance grinned, bouncing on the balls of his feet as he still leaned over the counter. “I told you!”

      That was the beginning. The start of Keith’s not-really-YouTube career.

From then on, he appeared a little more in his housemate’s videos. The editing got a little easier, and the content was a little freer.

Lance was glad for the positive reactions of his audience towards his best friend. There was always the few stray negatives, but they never dwelled on them for long, which Lance was extremely glad for.

A month later, and Keith was basically a permanent fixture on Lance’s channel.

Lance was grateful for the relaxed atmosphere around the house, now. Because of it, he was able to mill around and just ramble to the camera while explaining upcoming plans – like he was doing, now.

“So I mean, the thing - and I mean _the thing_ with me lately, is just the thought of having everyone out of the house for long period of time and shit. To like, events and stuff.” He gave a little shrug before perching himself on a barstool. “I know I don’t need to worry, ‘cause everyone here is a literal adult, capable of taking care of themselves-” Lance looked up as he saw Keith signing in front of him. He cracked a smile at his best friend’s statement. “Yeah, exactly. Everyone’s a capable adult except Shiro. So, I really shouldn’t be worrying.”

Lance rattled on to the camera about their plans, and the up and coming trip to VidCon while Keith mulled around in the kitchen, clattering with cups in the cabinet one moment and literally hopping to grab at a bag of chips the next.

“So anyway,” he sighed, waving his hand through the air carelessly. “I’ve decided that I’m not going to worry about anything. Que sera sera, you know?” There was a loud thump that had Lance jerking his head up to spot an impending disaster. Keith was in the beginning stages of losing his balance while he knelt precariously on the countertop. His arms were outstretched, reaching into the high cabinet for the bag of Sunchips.

Keith let out some kind of surprised yelp as he scrabbled for something to hold onto. He caught the edge of the door but the angle was wrong and the cabinet simply opened itself wider, knocking Keith off his kilter.

Lance shouted a curse as he bolted up from his stool, racing around the counter to where Keith was struggling. Lance hadn’t dropped the camera in his haste, so he was left to juggle the device and Keith’s bottom at the same time as he struggled to right the young man kneeling stupidly on the counter.

The whole moment was over quickly, with Keith successfully snagging the bag and hopping off of the counter.

“Be _careful_ ,” Lance chided, his mouth set in a firm line. Keith shrugged. He opened his bag of chips and dug into them. Lance gave him a withering glare. He pulled the camera up to focus on his best friend. “Look at him, tryin’ to play innocent like he didn’t just fall onto his ass.”

Keith made an indignant sound. He tossed the chips to the counter momentarily. “I _didn’t_ fall on my ass!” he said, his eyes narrowed.

“You would have, if not for my _saving_ your ass,” Lance snapped back. He donned a smirk. “You should be _thanking_ me for preventing your ass from getting bruised,” he advised.

Keith snorted, grabbing his chips before heading around the counter again and into the living room, plopping down on the couch in front of the TV. He was just barely visible in the background of the frame, over Lance’s shoulder.

Lance sighed, giving the camera a meaningful look before launching back into the video’s topic once more.

      Cutting that video together was a bit of a challenge. There was a lot of rambling and repeating. Lance was beginning to hate his own voice by the end of the editing process.

Before too long though, he was uploading the video, letting the whole thing process before finally uploading onto the site.

He expected the feedback to be something along the lines of “Are you going to be doing a meet and greet while you're here??!?!!” and other, similar reactions. The regular “AhhH their bedroom eyes give my soul LIFE!” and other such typical comments that would come when Lance and his best friend where in the same room together. Lance had all but given up trying to assure the viewers that _they were not_ together.

Then again, even with those expectations, Lance didn’t expect the feedback he got in the comments. It seemed that there was one collective thought was passed throughout all of his viewers.

**_Rachel Benoist:_ **

        I had to rewatch this twice lmao - i was too distracted by watching keith in the background XD

**_Pidgeon Holt:_ **

        When ur bestie steals the show by watching netflix and snacking for 37 years

**_abracaDABera:_ **

        while i admire keith who tf eats sunchips??????????????

There were hundreds of them. Zoomed in screenshots were taken of the young man over Lance’s shoulder, captions concerning how pretty Keith’s smile was, how comical his reactions were, and questions as to _just what_ was he watching that was so funny?.

Personally, Lance didn’t get what was so great, _or_ funny about House of Cards, but he’ll digress.

 _Wow_ , Lance thought. It seemed like it would be only a matter of time before Keith made his own YouTube channel and stole all of Lance’s subscribers for himself.

      Of _course_ , Lance would never be opposed to this – as long as Keith didn’t become a prank YouTuber… or one who got his kicks simply from tormenting his housemates.

Lance soon realized that that was a bit too much to ask for – because that’s _exactly_ the brand of YouTuber Keith was cut out to be.

Case in point: _The Snake Incident_.

A Wednesday, about a week after VidCon, and the band of vloggers got home, Lance found _it_.

The night was going well – a chill hang out. Pidge was over and everything.

But around nine that night, Lance was sent to clean the kitchen, as it was his turn. Wednesdays were his days. He was wiping down a counter when he glanced up to the bar. And then all at once, his world came crumbling down around him.

There, tucked in a small alcove made of wall corners and shadows, was a cardboard box. One with air holes punched in the sides. One that said “ _This side up. Caution: contains live animal”_ on the side.

“Oh my God,” Lance gasped, eyes impossibly wide as his hands twisted into a dish towel. “Pidge!” he yelled, his voice going many octave higher than what he was comfortable with.

The young man came running in, eyes wide and startled. “What is it!?” he asked. Lance could tell he wasn’t panicked and that worried him. The camera loosely cradled in Pidge’s hands was also worrying. Insanely so.

Lance wheezed. “You did _not._ ”

“Didn’t what?” Pidge wasn’t the best actor. He was about to crack up at any second, a sly grin covering his face.

Lance whacked the towel at the cardboard box, and it moved a bit out of the shadows.

He was on the fence about whether or not he actually wanted it to be empty or not.

It was.

That, in itself was a problem. That meant that _somewhere_ around this godforsaken house was a live animal. Something oblong and… probably snake-like.

Lance’s breath caught and he whipped his head back to look at Pidge, who fiddled with camera settings and pressed ‘record.’ Lance swallowed thickly. “You did _not_ bring a snake into this household. Did you?” Maybe if he said it firmly enough, it would come true. Maybe Pidge had done a sensible thing this time and left the snakes at the pet shop, where they belonged.

He grinned. “No. I didn’t bring a snake home.” That… wasn’t convincing. That was terrifying. It sounded like there was most certainly a snake slithering around the very corners of any given room.

Lance twisted up his towel. It was now a makeshift weapon against the intruder in their home. He knew, logically, that there was no way a little towel pop would deter a snake, but you know, he could sure as hell try.

“Why are you like this, Pidge? I fucking _hate_ you. You know that, right?” Lance hissed, stepping backwards carefully, his eyes scanning and never leaving the ground in front of him. This would have been a good time to run and get some sort of shoes, but Lance wasn’t necessarily thinking of that concern at the moment.

“It wasn’t me, I’m telling you!” he cried indignantly. He pressed himself up against the counter, leaning his elbow casually against the linoleum. “It was your good old buddy, Keith P.”

Lance’s frown was dramatic, pulling at his whole face in one huge sign of displeasure. “ _No._ He wouldn’t fuck me over like this. This is an _only you_ type of situation, bud.”

Pidge snorted and straightened up. “ _Okaaaay_ , dude. Believe what you must. I just have to say,” he adjusted the camera in his hands with a smirk, “don’t come screaming to me when Keith’s supplies start coming in the mail because he’s got to house his little friend somewhere in this house.”

Lance’s spine went rigid.

“Oh my God.” His eyes were wide and his breath caught. “No. _No. Pidge, tell me he actually didn’t_.”

He smirked at him and fluttered his eyelashes. “I must not tell lies.”

Lance felt every shred of goodwill towards his best friend wither and die in that very moment.

He dropped the towel to the floor and his fingers scrabbled for the phone stuck in his back pocket. He pulled it out and jabbed at Keith’s contact before writing a very long series of texts, demanding explanations for it all.

After no answers were given, and Lance spent a full minute quaking in fear, on the highest alert possible, he decided that enough was Enough.

He crossed the room, looking this way and that, expecting some reptile-or-whatever to comes slithering out of the shadows at any given second. Thankfully nothing happened before they got to Keith’s room.

They threw open the door to find Keith rolling around on the floor, his phone clutched in his hands as he laughed maniacally.

Realization clicked in Lance’s brain.

_A prank._

“You little shits!” he yelled. He whirled around to find Pidge still filming, now laughing right alongside Keith. “You assholes!”

Lance knew two things in that moment. Pidge had great clickbait for the next day – and he was never going to let Keith have a YouTube channel. Only bad things awaited when these two teamed up.

      Here’s the thing: Lance didn’t like pranks when he was the victim. He was self-centered like that. He liked the laughs, but he was a bit moody when they were made at his expense.

Nevertheless he forgave and forgot soon enough.

And, a month later, he figured it was about time for him and Keith to team up to pull their own prank.

Lance was lying on a beanbag in Keith’s room, his phone held above his face as he contemplated new topics for his videos. He wanted something fresh. Something that’s inclusive to friends and something that’s entertaining. Some prank that was both harmless, but at the same time, _hilarious_.

He waved his hand, catching Keith’s attention. “Have you ever prank called someone?” Lance asked, looking at Keith sprawled out on the bed.

Keith gave him a dead stare. He pointed to himself in a simple question. “Me?” A quick motion going from his mouth to ear carried the statement along. “I’m deaf, Lance.”

“I _know_ ,” Lance sighed, tapping two fingers at his forehead. “But like, couldn’t we do like, texts and stuff? For a video?” He scooted forward, making doe eyes, fanning his eyelashes. “Y’know, since you’re gonna be gone to your Mom’s for a while, we won’t be able to make any videos together.”

Keith considered it, making a face by twisting his mouth to the side. He looked at the iPhone in his hands. “I suppose,” he signed, the letter I twisting into his cheek. “Like, now? You want to, now?”

Lance rocked his fist in the air above him. “Yeah, why not?” He rolled up to his knees and tucked his phone into the back pocket of his jeans. “I’ll grab my light boxes.” He shot Keith a grin, who easily returned it before scooting out of the room.

Minutes later, Lance had efficiently set the whole thing up, camera secured on the tripod and light boxes up. He started up a screen capture software on Keith’s cell phone so he’s able to get the whole thing.

Keith fidgeted with his phone as soon as Lance turned his camera on. “How are we going to do this?” he asked curiously.

Lance paused, sitting down next to him. His face screwed up as if he was actually contemplating it all for the first time.

“I mean. I guess we just text someone and get this show on the road.”

Keith licked his lips, looking down to his phone as he went through his contacts. “Like who?” he asked, putting his thumb to his chin and crooking his index finger.

He glanced to Lance to get the answer. He simply shrugged.

“Let me do the intro, and then we’ll figure it out.”

“OK.”

He looked to the rolling camera and Keith watched as his “camera face”, as Keith called it, appeared. He was bubblier here, in front of the lenses, more entertaining, Keith supposed.

Keith remembered to smile for the camera, displaying his pearly whites and letting Lance do most of the talking. Lance sat three quarters to the camera, so he could still see Keith and so that Keith could still read his hands as he spoke.

“So we thought we’d try this, where Keith prank calls - prank texts-,” he looked over to Keith, an inquisitive face on.

“Prank texts,” Keith confirmed with a nod.

“Right. Prank texts. Anyway, Keith’s gonna pick someone from his contacts and we’re gonna - well, I mean, we’ll see. We haven’t exactly planned this out.” Lance shrugged like it was no sweat. “We’ll go with the flow.”

Keith bit the inside of his lip, still sorting through his contacts.

His thumb hovered over the beginning of the “S” section.

His eyes lit up and he tapped on the contact before shoving his phone in Lance’s face, showing his choice.

Lance lifted an eyebrow worriedly, looking between Keith and the screen in way-too-close proximity to his face.

“You wanna prank text _Shiro_ ,” he said carefully.

Keith’s smile was wide, bright and daring. “Fuck yes.”

Lance’s grin was soon to match his. “Alright. Let’s do it.”

“Ah OK,” Keith signed. “How do I start?”

Lance made a little face. “Well, I don’t know. We just have to get the ball rolling first.”

Keith made a little humming noise in his throat. “OK. Here we go.”

 **Keith:** hey so i need help and Adult Advice

Keith looked up at Lance. “How much do you want to bet that this is the first time he doesn’t text me back in like 3 seconds?”

Lance rolled his eyes. “Oh please. Shiro is too responsible for that.”

A second of silence, and then another, before they both cracked up.

“Yeah!” Lance cried out, his face alit. “I can’t believe I used the words ‘Shiro’ and ‘responsible’ in the same sentence!”

“You shouldn’t spread lies like this, Lance,” Keith chided, laughed all the time.

His phone vibrated in his hands and he looked down instantly.

 **Shiro:** What happened, are you okay?

Keith frowned dramatically at the camera and began to type out a reply.

 **Keith:** im fine – lance isn’t tho

Lance laughed, the air displacing Keith’s hair. Keith looked up to him and Lance’s eyes narrowed.

“Throwing me under the bus?” he asked.

Keith gave a sly smile and a sure nod.

“Duh.”

Another buzz signaling a text.

 **Shiro:** What happened, do I need to call him? Is he okay?

Keith was quick to reply.

 **Keith:** no don’t call him!

 **Keith:** hes hella stressed rn and he doesn’t know what to do and neither do i so i need you to tell me how to help him

 **Shiro:** Tell me what happened?

Keith yanked his head up, eyes wide. “So…” he trailed off, dropping his phone to his lap. “What did you do?”

Lance frowned. “Dude, you took the reins! You got to think something up. What’s something big I would probably do?”

Keith’s face brightened instantly and he picked up the phone again.

 **Keith:** so we were at VidCon right

 **Keith:** and you know those parties got hella crazy

 **Keith:** and you kno lance cant hold his liquor

 **Keith:** and he’s a flirty drunk

 **Shiro:** are you telling me what I think you are telling me?

Keith looked up to Lance curiously.

He looked shocked. “Is this going where _I_ think it’s going!?” he asked, arms sweeping in large movements.

Keith dropped the phone. “You told me to go for it!” he protested.

Lance gripped at his hair. “Oh my God, Keith.” His eyes were wide. “Shiro’s gonna kill me,” he mourned.

Keith went back to the phone.

 **Keith:** …yeah I think so

 **Keith:** he and a creator got together and now she’s pregnant

Keith found Lance biting at his knuckles, his posture the physical embodiment of stress. He muttered a string of words around his fingers, but Keith couldn’t decipher them.

He typed out another text, anxiety bleeding from Lance so that Keith freely absorbed it. His fingers shook the tiniest bit as he typed again.

 **Keith:** she just found out and she called him and now he’s even more of a mess than usual

 **Shiro:** So you are telling me-

 **Shiro:** That Lance has gotten a woman pregnant

 **Shiro:** And is now freaking out about it

 **Shiro:** And you don’t know what to do

Keith made a high pitched, broken sound and slapped his palm against his forehead a few times. He cast a glance at Lance, who simply prodded him along. He went back to his phone, tapping his foot against the floor loudly.

 **Keith:** yea that’s exactly what im saying idfk how to handle this bullshit

Suddenly the screen changed, lighting up further. Lance heard it vibrating in Keith’s hands. Keith winced, looking at Lance. He twisted the phone, showing off Shiro’s name as the FaceTime call rang.

“What do I do!?” Keith demanded, fumbling with the phone.

“Answer it!” Lance exclaimed, motioning for him to do so.

Keith groaned loudly. He stood up from his stool and jogged out of the room, away from the setup of light boxes and recording equipment. Lance struggled to grab the camera from the tripod and follow his friend out of the room. Keith planted himself on the couch in the living room, facing away from the wall so that Shiro would have no chances of seeing Lance. He stuffed a pillow to his chest before he answered the call with a swipe of his finger. He made his face look sullen, quickly masking the panic on his face. He bounced his foot and sighed heavily.

He couldn’t hear Shiro’s voice immediately, but Lance assumed that he was signing quickly, not even bothering to vocalize his thoughts on the absurd matter. Keith made a face to whatever Shiro had said, shaking his head.

“No, listen,” he said, trying to cut in. “It was a bad night. He wasn’t thinking clearly. Obviously he’s going to be there for her.”

Shiro’s note of a laugh was loud, high-pitched and biting. Even Lance flinched at it.

“Ah, shit,” Lance whispered to himself, his face heating up despite himself.

“Jesus Christ,” Lance heard Shiro say. He could practically see him rubbing his hands over his face. “Who’s - Who’s the mother?”

Keith pointed the phone’s camera to the ceiling, puffing his cheeks out. He glared daggers at Lance.

“I’m killing you after this,” he told him one handedly, a dangerous gleam in his eyes that Lance didn’t want to protest. Lance made a drastic face, pointing to the cell phone.

Keith picked up the phone again, flicking his eyes to Lance one more time before zeroing in on Shiro. He raised his right hand, spelling out the name of Lance’s supposed baby-mama. As soon as he finished the first name, Lance wanted to scream. There was no fucking _way_ Shiro would believe that Lance slept with _Allura_ , of all people.

“Allura.” Shiro repeated, completely unamused. “Keith, what the fuck.”

Lance cut in, a nervous lull in his high pitched voice. “It’s a prank!” He hurried to sit down next to Keith, pointing his camera lens at the cell phone screen. The cell phone shook in Keith’s hands so it was passed onto Lance. “Got you!”

Shiro was wide eyed, looking like he had just aged twelve years behind his wiry framed glasses. “Oh my God,” he muttered. “ _Lance_.”

The tone was stern and it made Lance laugh. Sheepishly.

“Sorry?” he said, the apology coming out more like a question.

Shiro blew out a breath, his cheeks puffing out as his eyes slipped shut. “I can’t believe you.” He sounded practically exhausted. “I was about to call you up with an entire lecture.”

Lance nodded. “But it was all a joke!” he said, trying to divert back to a lighthearted side of things. “Your face was hilarious.”

Shiro shook his head mournfully. “I’m glad I got rid of the beard. It’d be going gray from all the stress you punks give me.”

Keith found that rather amusing, because he laughed. …and laughed. And laughed a little bit more.

      The reception of the video was great. It seemed to Lance that the fans were becoming pretty attached to Keith. Which, pff, Lance isn’t surprised about, because, obviously, Keith is a great dude and everyone loves him.

But, you know, attachment comes with its drawbacks – like the great Vlog Dry Spell Lance’s channel went through as Keith took his yearly trip to his Mom’s. With Keith gone, the audience went into a sort of tizzy.

Lance was partially glad that he had someone to share in his melancholy, because Keith’s been gone two and a half weeks without his best friend, and that state of being is _far_ too old for his liking, now.

      Keith thought that Pidge was crazy when he proposed coming back early. Not because he didn’t want to come home early (quite the opposite, actually. Keith wasn’t one to drift away from home base for long periods of time), but rather, because he wanted Keith to do it _in secret_.

So, here they sat in Pidge’s car as they drive back from the airport, midnight covering the California highways, street lamps giving floods of color with every pass.

“You know, I’m probably not going to be able to put like, _anything_ in the vlog,” Pidge said, half with mournful and half giddy, glancing at Keith in the passenger seat.

Keith tossed him a grin, looking up and momentarily setting down the glasses he’d been cleaning. “You always say that,” he commented. “And then you put everything in anyway.”

“I mean, I know, but I just have a feeling that this time is going to be one of those times where the video’s content is gonna just, fucking violate all of YouTube’s terms of service and I’m gonna get the video taken down.” The turn signal blinked obnoxiously as Pidge made a left at an intersection, pulling into the driveway. He shut the engine off and turned to Keith, a mischievous smile on his face. “Let’s go give Lance the best surprise of the year.”

The next few minutes of video consisted of grabbing all of Keith’s baggage out of the trunk and tossing just inside of the backdoor, to be retrieved in the morning.

Pidge was going to have to either do a time-lapse or simply cut it out in the end, because this was nearly the opposite of Quality Entertainment.

Finally, Pidge crept around to the front door and knocked loudly.

The plan was simple: Pidge had been harassing the boys of the house, texting them that he was coming over shortly after midnight, bearing pizza, drinks and a declaration that Netflix was essential for the night. (No one was happy. He’s pretty sure that his brother, Matthew, was going to straight up stab him as soon as he got in the door.) After Pidge took care of everyone, they sneak Keith in, hide him in the hall bathroom for a moment. And then bring everyone back out and have Keith jump into view! _Surprise!_ Keith’s home! The best fucking surprise ever! Hopefully. Pidge is kind of hoping that he won’t get stabbed; that’d be a good surprise, too.

Shiro was the one to open the door, a look of sheer exhaustion in his eyes.

“Pidge,” he said sternly. “You do know what time it is, don’t you?”

He snorted. “Of course I do.” He fiddled with the camera in his eyes, helping it to adjust to the change of light. “The night is young! It’s only midnight!”

“It’s two o’clock,” Shiro sighed.

“Nonetheless,” Pidge shrugged. “Lemme in. The wind is giving me goose bumps. And I want to show you guys what I brought.”

Matthew was standing by the kitchen counter, half asleep, but with a sneer upon his face. He looked dangerous. Pidge might actually get stabbed. “Pidge, if it’s an animal, I’m going to be _so_ mad.”

He snorted, rolling his eyes. “It’s not an animal, and I doubt you’ll be mad. It’s a _happy_ surprise!”

Matt sighed, curling his arms around himself. “Right. Where is it?” he asked, looking around the young man.

“It’s a surprise, brother. I need you guys to duck into your rooms for a minute while I got get it from my car.”

Hunk, who was lying heavily on the couch, got up with a low sound. He rubbed at his eyes, clearly ready for sleep, but nonetheless began shuffling down the hallway.

At a small, excited look from Pidge, Matt and Shiro went as well.

Pidge nearly cackled with excitement. He ducked out the door, waving to the man standing watch. He beckoned him in and hurried into the house. Pidge stuffed him in the bathroom at the beginning of the hall before calling the others back in.

They shuffled in, one by one. Shiro, Matthew and Hunk.

Pidge frowned darkly, scanning the room. “Where’s Lance? I thought I told you all to keep him awake!”

Hunk shrugged. “We tried, dude. He retreated to his room like half an hour ago and we couldn’t get him back out.” He leaned next to the counter Shiro sat on, rubbing his eyes.

“Dammit!” Pidge growled, rubbing his forehead. “Fuck you guys! You were supposed to keep him awake!”

Shiro piped up, raising a tired hand. “Pidge, what does it even matter? What do you have that could possibly be so important?”

As if on cue, Keith poked his head out of the bathroom door, a frown on his mouth. He looked around and the frown deepened when his best friend was nowhere to be seen.

“Shit,” Shiro cursed, his eyes widening.

Keith stepped out of the bathroom door, still looking around. After a moment, he looked to the rest of the group and just smiled in a sort of surprise-nice-to-see-you sort of way.

He waved, and that’s all it took for the others to come back to life.

Hunk pushed off of the counter at the same time Shiro jumped to the floor, and in the next moment, Keith was wrapped up in a million hugs, a grin on his face.

That was how they stayed for just a moment before Keith pulled back. His hair was mussed now, after Matthew’s fingers took their time combing through it while squished between Keith and Shiro.

“Where’s Lance?” he asked, a furrow creasing his eyebrow. “Not out, is he?”

Hunk shook his head, causing Keith to look towards him. “You know he doesn’t go out, man,” he laughed. His hands were still a little sluggish as the grogginess threatened to overtake him again. “He’s sleepin’.”

Keith snorted, shaking his head. “Okay. You guys better go to bed. You all look fucking dead.”

Matt looked offended, a hand splayed out over his chest. “Only on the inside, alright?” He sniggered, tossing an arm around Shiro’s shoulders.

“Yeah, okay,” Keith signed. It didn’t take much more to have the others heading back into their rooms. Matthew asked if Pidge was staying over, and Pidge narrowed his eyes.

“Is this the part where you say I can take the porch if I wanna stay over?”

Matt rolled his eyes. “Take the couch,” he sighed.

Keith smiled at them, glad to be home to witness their shenanigans. He said his goodnights to the group before heading down the hall to his own bedroom.

He made a short stop on his way, easing Lance’s bedroom door open, chewing on his bottom lip as he squinted through the darkness. A quick inspection told Keith that the bed was empty and Lance was nowhere to be found. With a frown, he padded back out of the room.

Lance wasn’t passed out on the couch. He wouldn’t be in one of the other bedrooms. They’d said he had gone to sleep. Keith hadn’t mistaken that. Where could he be? Keith finally found Lance in his own room, splayed out over his sheets on his stomach with an arm curled under Keith’s pillow.

With a small, breathy laugh, Keith slipped into the room, shutting the door behind himself. He clicked on a lamp, spreading a dull yellow light throughout the room. He toed out of his shoes and shrugged out of his jacket before moving to the side of the bed. He settled his hearing aids onto the bedside table before flopping atop the covers next to Lance. The other man stirred. He had no doubts that he was muttering angrily, accusingly before he leaned up on his elbow, looking for the intruder.

Lance’s eyes widened, comically, at the sight of his best friend. “Keith?” he asked, his left hand coming up to twist the letter K in the air. “Why are you home?” Lance signed the words as well as he could with only his left hand, but he still spoke aloud as he did. “You’re not in until next Tuesday.”

Keith made a face. “I was ready to head home,” he said with a shrug. He rolled over, flat on his back so he could use his hands in the dim light. “Pidge said he wanted to film a ‘big reveal’ and surprise you all. That’s why he wanted you guys to stay up.”

Lance snorted, flopping to lay back down. He rolled his head to look at Keith, his eyes soft in the warm light. Keith read the words on his mouth this time. “If he would’a said so, I would’a stayed up ‘till morning.”

Keith grinned at him, rolling on his side, shifting the comforter. _Yes, well,_ Keith wanted to say, but settled for a shrug. Instead, he put a teasing smirk onto his face. “You didn’t,” he said, his hands coming between them, signing the best he could with his right arm under his side. “You went to bed, because _you are weak_.”

Lance made a face, his jaw dropping. He rolled up to his side once again. “What _ever!_ ” he spluttered. The breath he scoffed hit Keith’s chin, drifting down to his collar. “I’m not weak just because I value my sleep! You know that I will literally commit murder if I don’t get my eight hours of sleep.”

“Murder them in your own bed. This one is mine.” Not that he minded sharing, Lance was always good for a cuddle-buddy when you were feeling down, but had the guy missed him that much that he had started sleeping in Keith’s room?

“‘M ceiling fan broke. Too hot in there. I might actually burn alive.”

Keith rolled his eyes. A firm hand in the middle of Lance’s chest pushed him down again. “Just for tonight then,” he said aloud. He knew his voice was uneven, but Lance settled down nonetheless. Keith snagged a pillow on Lance’s other side and tucked it under his head, sighing as he got comfortable.

Keith cracked his eyes open to look at Lance in the dim lamplight, only to find Lance already looking at him.

“Good night,” he said, Keith reading his lips.

He gave a little smile, signed good night between them and rolled over to shut the lamp off.

The end.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!  
> This was an entry for the Voltron Gen Mini Bang 2K17  
> It was so fun to write and I had such a good time taking part of this!  
> This was beta'd by my two _amazing_ betas, Penny and Miki! You're both so great, h e c k  
>  My artist, [sirensantics](http://sirensantics.tumblr.com/) was so fucking talented and such a goddamn joy to work with  
> Please, drop me a comment, and head over and check out Rachel's work!  
> [Come drop by and visit me over on tumblr!](http://peanutbutterandbitter.tumblr.com/)


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